


The Bruise of a Rough Start

by Hildigunnur



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Boy Blaine, Bullying, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Multi, Past Sexual Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-14 01:40:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4545294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hildigunnur/pseuds/Hildigunnur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones might have thought that senior year at McKinley would pretty much the same as the other three years. But when Sam Evans returns to McKinley with his new friend, the motorcycle-riding, seemingly free-spirited Blaine Anderson, things get turned around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Written for KBL Reversebang 2015. The stunning banner, chapter headers and dividers were made by the talented and lovely bluefire986. See her art post [here](http://bluefire986.livejournal.com/4809.html) and let her know if you like the art. (The images have been temporarily taken down, due to a hosting problem).
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> My thanks to Sarka for the beta. All remaining errors are mine.
> 
> The title is from Adam Lambert's song - The Light.
> 
>  **Trigger Warning:** multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
> 
> This work isn't completed.

Of course the group meeting had to be held in an almost windowless room in the basement of the community center. There was nothing about this that made Sam want to be there, except he had promised his parents and his social worker that he would attend.

Ten folding chairs or so stood in a circle in the middle of the floor. In the corner, not far off, a fan was whirring. It was early August and stuffy in the room. Sam eyed the chairs, not wanting to sit down when he was the first to arrive,so instead he stood awkwardly close to the empty table near the entrance. After he’d been there for a minute or so, another boy walked in, giving him a shy glance before walking to a chair to sit down. When another boy walked in and sat down as well, Sam wondered if he should follow suit, but then the counselor arrived with a stack of papers and a jug of water which he put down on the table.

“Hiya there, Sam, good to see you,” he said in a cheery voice, like they were going to be playing table-top games or something. Sam half-whispered a greeting.

“Take a seat with Jack and Carter there, we’ll begin shortly.”

Sam sat down on one of the folding chairs, a couple of seats away from one of the boys, and promptly started to stare down at his shoes, not wanting to look the other boys in the eyes. It was hard for him to imagine that they wanted to be there, any more than he did. If only he had a smart phone or something, but it wasn’t like he or his parents could afford one. 

He finally looked up when someone dragged a chair to sit down. There was only one chair separating him and the newcomer, a boy around his age, dressed in a white t-shirt and distressed jeans that looked like wear and tear were the reason and not a designer’s whimsy. A tattoo of a bird adorned his upper right arm.

“Ah, you’re here, Blaine. I think we can start, we aren’t expecting more people today. I’m Henry,” the counselor spoke rapidly as he settled down on one of the chairs. “Like always, I want to remind you that this is a safe space and nothing that is said here is supposed to leave this room unless you want your story to be heard. So does anyone want to start? Jack, you didn’t say much the last time we met?”

Jack, who seemed to prefer being hidden away under his hoodie, despite the heat, murmured something that Sam could hardly decipher but Henry seemed to understand perfectly.

“Thank you for sharing, Jack. Sam, maybe you want to go now?”

Sam really didn’t want to say anything, but going to this support group had been very much encouraged by his social worker and he didn’t want to cause his parents any more stress by angering him.

“So, I’m Sam, and I’m here because I got into sex work, which apparently was a bad thing since I’m just sixteen and underage and stuff. And yeah, I was stripping, not selling myself, which doesn’t matter all that much, apparently. Uhmm, I don’t know what more I can say.” He peeked at the others, looking for judgment but no one was really looking at him, except of course Henry, and Blaine, who was cocking one eyebrow slightly.

“Thank you, Sam,” Henry said. “We don’t expect you to pour your heart out your first time here. Trust takes time to build, especially for people who have been in abusive situations. With time, you’ll learn that you are not alone, not alone in your experiences and not alone with the feelings you might be having.”

He kept going on a bit about trust and Sam started to tune him out. Stripping hadn’t been the smartest move, but his family had been desperate for money, he had seen the audition notice and taken a chance. No one had asked him about his age, all they had seen were his washboard abs. It had been cool for a few weeks; his mom thought he was working at the local Dairy Queen and he was bringing home cash so his siblings could eat something other than canned beans. Then his school mates had found out about his extracurricular activities and alerted the school and his parents and now he was in a whole lot of mess. His family had to go through this whole process with Child Protective Services and he’d had to go to counseling and group therapy, plus having to miss the last couple of months of last school year. He’d endured it all because there was no way he was allowing his family to be split up because he’d wanted to get easy money.

His thoughts were interrupted by chairs scraping against the linoleum again. Looking up, he saw the others getting up to leave. 

“So, same time next week, boys,” Henry said cheerfully. “We’ll probably be talking about safe spaces and their importance, then.”

The other guys had disappeared and Henry was busying himself with stacking the chairs. Sam wasn’t in any hurry. He would have to walk back home, as his mother had dropped him off on her way to her new part-time cleaning job.

“Hey, Chippendale.”

Sam looked around as he stepped outside. Blaine, the guy in the torn jeans, was leaning against a parking sign pole. A black, medium-sized motorcycle was parked there.

“Me?” Sam pointed to himself.

“Yeah, you. Not every day one meets a hot stripper.”

Sam blinked.

“Uh…”

“You said you were a stripper?”

“Yeah… but… thanks?” 

Was Blaine hitting on him? Not that he minded all that much.

“I mean, you’re hot, but I’m guessing you performed mostly for women, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t be so lucky that a hot guy like you would be stripping for a gay audience here in Lima. So, you still in school, or?”

Sam shrugged a little. He was currently in a bit of a neither-nor situation when it came to his education; though the plan was for him to go back to school in just few weeks time, to start the new school year.

“Yeah, I am. I’m behind though, ‘cause I missed a couple of months from school this spring.”

“Okay, and where do you go? North Lima? McKinley?” There was an almost boy-like curiosity in Blaine’s look.

“McKinley. Well, not since March but yeah, I’m going back when school starts.”

“Cool, I’m hopefully starting my senior year there.”

“Oh, you are transferring?” 

“Yes and no, it’s a bit complicated.” Blaine didn’t offer any further explanation.

“Okay, cool. Yeah…” Sam looked at Blaine. He was pretty sure the guy was gay, judging from his questions. He wondered whether he should tell him about how it always seemed be for gays in McKinley, but even though Blaine wasn’t very tall, he looked like a guy who could handle himself.

“You need a ride somewhere?” Blaine gestured to the motorcycle.

“Yeah, I do, but I have never…”

“Oh, it’s easy. If you’re okay with holding onto me you should be okay. I even have a spare helmet.”

Blaine put on a leather jacket that was lying on the motorcycle, strapped on a helmet and handed one to Sam.

Riding on a motorcycle wasn’t as thrilling as Sam had imagined it to be after watching Easy Rider and Mad Max and playing that motorcycle Grand Theft Auto expansion, maybe because Blaine was just riding at legal speeds and not burning up fuel with some crazy driving.

As they stopped in front of Sam’s place, Blaine took off his helmet.

“I hope… well, if you’re not too freaked out by me yet, but you seem like a cool dude and all… I was wondering whether we could, like, play a videogame or something… after next week’s session maybe?”

Sam looked at Blaine. He didn’t know the guy at all, except he had been pretty cool about the stripper thing, he would be going to the same school as him and he was probably gay. It was always hard to start at a new school without knowing anyone there. Sam had been in his place a year ago. Having a friend would have been awesome.

“Sure, give me your number. You know, just in case.”


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger Warning for the entire fic:** multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
> 
> This work isn't completed.

Ah, good old McKinley High. Kurt couldn’t say he had missed it all that much during the summer, but there was just one school year separating him from finally getting the hell out of Lima and Kurt Hummel was determined to make the most out of his senior year.

He’d arrived early because Mercedes had insisted they would meet up and take everything in.

“Boo, this is the last first day of school we’re going to have together. I’m here to make memories, you with me?” She’d said and Kurt couldn’t really argue with that.

Mercedes arrived just minutes after him, looking good, but then again, he’d approved her outfit last night as she had done his. 

The weather was nice, not too warm or anything, so they weren’t in any hurry to get inside but stayed in front of the school, catching up on gossip and commenting quietly as their fellow students dragged themselves inside.

A loud engine noise sounded over the school’s parking lot. A black, vintage-looking bike pulled up to the curb, carrying two people. The passenger was quicker to pull off his helmet and Kurt could hear Mercedes gasp next to him.

That was Sam Evans. His blond hair was a little shorter than it had been when he’d left school but he was still cute as ever. It was the rider, though, who’d piqued Kurt’s interest. He was busy zipping down a leather jacket, even before taking off his helmet, revealing a black t-shirt and a large tattoo on his upper arm as he shrugged off the jacket. Then he pulled off the helmet, a head full of gorgeous dark curls appearing along with one of the more handsome faces Kurt had ever seen. Now it was his turn to gasp.

He and Mercedes just stood there, rooted to the ground, staring at the newcomers.

Sam saw them and smiled.

“Hey, Mercedes, Kurt. I’m happy to see friendly faces.” He walked up to them, the stranger boy following him and Kurt could sense him checking him out.

“So… you are back then…” Mercedes stammered. Mercedes hardly ever stammered.

“Yep, back to McKinley. Back to the books and hopefully back to the Glee club. Please tell me that the Glee club is still running.”

“Yeah, no worries there,” Kurt said, “Sue Sylvester still hasn’t managed to get it shut down. Good to see you, Sam, and…” He hoped he would get the new boy’s name, otherwise he would have to call him “New Hottie McHottie” in his head, and that wouldn’t do.

Sam smiled, obviously sensing what Kurt wanted.

“So, this is my friend, Blaine. And yeah, this is Kurt and this is Mercedes. We used to be in Glee club together.”

Kurt was just going to opt for a little hand wave but Blaine stuck out his hand for a handshake. Taking Blaine’s hand, Kurt looked up and into his eyes which looked filled with warmth, though there was a tinge of something dark there as well.

“Nice to meet you, Kurt. I’m Blaine Anderson.”

The boy had nice manners. Kurt Hummel was officially intrigued.

\------ 

“Hey, baby,” Shane turned to Mercedes as they exited last period English. “Are we going to hang after school?”

“I’ve got Glee.”

“Ah, yeah. So our time after school is gonna be limited, with you in Glee and my football practices.” Shane looked almost sad.

“We’ll just have to make good use of the weekends, then.”

Shane smiled his cute smile and bent down to give her a kiss goodbye. He tore up the field playing football, but he was an absolute teddy bear to be around. Sweet and tactile and a total gentleman. Plus her parents approved of him.

So why wasn’t she completely head over heels for him? 

She was deep in thought when she entered the choir room. Kurt was already there, saving her a seat, but he wasn’t the person she noticed. Sam was sitting there, in the back row, looking at her as she walked in and making her aware of her beating heart.

Taking her seat, still under Sam’s gaze, she turned to Kurt who obviously wanted her attention.

“He’s here,” he said in a hurried whisper.

“I know,” she whispered back, “and he’s looking at me… staring at me really.”

“What?” Kurt whispered back. “Why is Blaine staring at you?”

“I thought you meant Sam. Blaine’s here?”

“Oh my god, was Sam staring at you?”

They didn’t get any further because Mr. Shue had entered the classroom.

“Welcome back after summer break. Good to see you! This year is going to be very exciting. Almost all of you have returned and we even have a newcomer. Welcome to… Blaine, is it?”

Mercedes looked quickly around and noticed that Quinn wasn’t there. She had heard about the pink hair, the smoking and the tattoos so she wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah, I’m Blaine Anderson.”

“So, I believe that you’re a senior year transfer and that you have an audition song prepared for us.” Mr. Shue stepped to the side, beckoning towards Blaine and making it clear that the floor was his.

Blaine didn’t take the floor but walked straight to the grand piano and gestured to Brad who shrugged and got up.

Sitting down in his leather jacket, Blaine looked out of place at a grand piano, but as soon as his fingers touched the ivory it was clear that it wasn’t some amateur sitting there, and it became even more evident when he opened his mouth and started channeling Freddie Mercury with ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. Maybe he wasn’t completely on par with Freddie Mercury vocally, but he was obviously a superior singer to most of the boys in the room, except for Kurt, but then again, Kurt was one of a kind. Mercedes had to look over to Rachel Berry who was as easy to read as a picture book. On one hand she looked absolutely thrilled to have a male voice for all of her endless duets, but Blaine’s appearance seemed to give her some concern.

Next to her, Kurt was absolutely enthralled, and when Blaine finished the song Kurt was the one who clapped the loudest.

“Well, that was absolutely fantastic. I think we’re lucky to have you with us, Blaine. You might be our ticket to go all the way.” Mr. Shue was patting Blaine’s back but Blaine didn’t look all that impressed.

“Wait, Mr. Shue. How do we know he’s not just another Jesse St. James?” It was Finn who spoke. Blaine turned around to look at him, seeming unmoved by Finn’s outburst..

“Hey, Finn. I invited him here,” Sam piped up and Mercedes used her chance to turn around to look at the speaker.

“But how do we know he didn’t just become your friend to get to us?” 

Mercedes wondered whether it might have been Rachel’s focus on Blaine that got Finn’s suspicions up. 

Sam laughed. “I don’t think so, Finn.”

Finn sat back in his chair, his arms crossed as Blaine made his way back to his seat.

\----- 

Okay. Blaine liked some action in his life but the tension had been running a little high for him in that choir room. Still, he was happy he had a place to sing, since he was giving high school another go.

He’d been the last to leave the choir room, hoping that Finn guy would be gone. What was his problem anyway? He would have to get the story on that Jesse guy from Sam.

But it wasn’t just the singing that made him thrilled about Glee club. It was also Kurt, who was so crazy gorgeous that Blaine had hard time believing he wasn’t some male model who had accidentally wandered into a high school.

Sam had told him that Kurt was gay and Blaine wanted to thank some higher being that at least he might stand a chance.

The thing was, though, that Blaine had never had a boyfriend. There were a couple of guys he’d had sex with more than once but there had never been any dating or feelings involved. Kurt, however, had something about him that suggested that he would be more amenable to being asked on a date than to a suggestion of a tryst in the janitor’s closet.

As he walked to his motorcycle, he saw Kurt sitting on a low wall like he was waiting for someone.

“Hey,” he said, walking over to him.

“Hey,” Kurt said, his cheeks coloring a little and making him cute too, on the top of devastatingly beautiful.

“Kurt, right?” Blaine ventured as he sat down next to Kurt.

“Yeah.” Kurt’s voice was airy and had a tone to it that reminded Blaine of a gust of wind blowing through chimes.

To his horror, Blaine had to suppress a sudden urge to come up with a line, instead of trying to get to know Kurt like he wanted. The boy was just so stunning, with his brown, upswept hair, blue eyes and skin that looked almost too perfect, if it hadn’t been for the faint freckles on his face.

“Is Glee club always that dramatic?” he asked instead.

Kurt chuckled.

“I would have thought Sam would have warned you about the high drama that usually goes on there. Though I wasn’t expecting it to come from Finn, but Jesse is still a sore point for him, especially after the prom this spring... but that’s a long story. How do you know Sam, anyway? I mean, he dropped out last spring and yeah… I guess you know why?”

Blaine nodded to that but wondered what he should tell Kurt. He didn’t have a problem telling Kurt about why he was going to a support group, but it wasn’t his to talk about Sam going there. Even though Kurt seemed to know what had been going on with Sam, the support group was a safe space and he had to respect that.

“Well, I want to say a bit, though it’s not entirely accurate, but that’s all I can say.”

Kurt looked curious but didn’t press.

“Are you waiting for someone?” Blaine ventured to ask, hoping against hope he could offer Kurt a ride on the bike.

“Yeah, my dad. Finn took my car to take Sam to Artie’s. He said something about the guys wanting to catch up with Sam but I think they wanted him to join them in playing the Game of Thrones board game. Finn got obsessed with it when he was grounded and lost video game privileges after that spring prom and the guys felt so sorry for him that they came over to play board games with him. They even had me playing a couple of times but they got upset when I ended up with way more castles than them, so I was nice to them and told them I didn’t care much for the game.”

The immediate familiarity with which Kurt spoke about Finn caught Blaine a bit off guard. Finn looked as straight as they came but Blaine knew very well that appearances had very little to do with someone’s sexual orientation. It would be his luck if Finn was Kurt’s boyfriend. Blaine’s thoughts must have shown on his face because Kurt started laughing a little.

“Sorry, I forgot that you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. Finn is my stepbrother, that’s why he has my car. His truck refused to start this morning.”

“Okay, so you didn’t go along with the other boys because they don’t want you to win against them at a board game.”

Kurt laughed again. He really had a delightful laughter.

“Despite me and Finn being family, I don’t really hang out with the guys. They know way too little about Vogue.”

“Okay, Gaga, Rihanna or Emma Watson?”

“Emma because… no, wait, you read Vogue?” Kurt’s eyes had grown round with surprise.

“Guilty,” Blaine said and grinned. “And yeah, I agree, Emma’s cover was the best.”

“You’re interesting, Mr. Anderson; a Vogue-reader who rides a motorcycle. I want to learn more.” 

A swooping feeling in Blaine’s stomach indicated that Kurt was flirting with him and he had totally dropped his game but as he was scrambling for a flirty comeback, a dark SUV pulled up to the curb. Kurt got to his feet and waved to Blaine as he got into the car. There was something that tugged at Blaine’s chest, a certain sense of disappointment.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger Warning for the entire fic:** multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
> 
> This work isn't completed (the next chapter will posted very soon).

After having endured bullying almost every day since he’d started McKinley, Kurt had noticed that the first day being back his senior year had been bully-free. An optimistic part of him was hoping that the first day had been an indicator of things to come, but three years of constant abuse should have taught him better.

Yesterday, the bullies had obviously been scoping out the freshmen in search for new targets, but they had obviously not found anyone they liked to torment as much as they liked to torment Kurt. He hadn’t been at school for more than a couple of minutes when the first locker slam of the day happened. His shoulder crashed hard against the locker and Kurt couldn’t help but let out a soft cry, more in surprise than pain. The brute this time around was Rick The Stick who, despite being an absolute jackass, normally didn’t pay much attention to Kurt.

“I love the sound of a homo banging into a locker in the morning.”

Like he was Robert fucking Duvall.

Mostly it got Kurt really angry; he’d honestly hoped his schoolmates had grown a little sense over the summer. They were becoming adults, after all, and adults normally didn’t push people they didn’t like into lockers. Well, except for maybe Sue Sylvester and yeah, homophobic morons who participated in gay bashing. But Kurt had to believe that things would get better. Next year, he’d be in New York, and this would a thing of the past.

Thankfully, there were other things occupying Kurt’s mind these days. After first period, he kept his eye out for Blaine; his dad had arrived at the worst possible moment yesterday. The corners of Kurt’s mouth tugged upwards at the thought of Blaine. He had most certainly not been opposed to what Kurt hoped came across as flirting. Kurt’s gaydar might not be the best functioning instrument in the world but he was pretty certain that Blaine was gay. The boy did pass to the untrained eye, but Blaine’s admission of reading Vogue had been what cemented Kurt’s hunch, not that he wanted to apply stereotypes to anyone but sometimes there was a certain common thread. 

After finishing second period Physics, Kurt stopped on his way to third period AP History to say hi to Tina who was stuffing things in her locker.

BANG! 

He was slammed so hard into a locker that he actually fell to the floor. He gasped and this time it was with pain.

“Whoa, are you okay? Hey, let me give you a hand.” It wasn’t Tina, it was Blaine who reached for him and pulled him up.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kurt said, dazed, bending down to collect his things that had fallen to the floor. Blaine went to pick up the scattered things as well.

“Shit, who were those guys?” Blaine asked as he handed Kurt his notebook.

“I didn’t really see who they were,” Kurt said. He hadn’t been paying attention to the students passing by.

“I saw them. Azimio and Karofsky,” Tina said and Kurt wanted to groan. Those two really felt their homophobia was a universal excuse for treating people like human bowling pins. Last year, he’d even tried to go to the principal and the school board but that had been futile. All it did was paint an even bigger target on him. Finn and the other guys in Glee club had tried their best to help him but sometimes all Finn did was putting his foot in his mouth. Kurt had stopped speaking to him for a week when he’d implied that Kurt repeating his John Mellencamp look would be a great idea.

Finn did apologize eventually and after letting him stew for a bit, Kurt had accepted the apology and then made him watch A Single Man with him. As Finn sobbed over it Kurt finally forgave him.

“Does this kind of thing happen often?” Blaine asked, and Kurt realized he had been standing there for a few moments, still holding Blaine’s hand. With a tiny bit of regret, he let go.

“It did. I’d hoped this year they would tone it down but yeah…”

“God, I hate bigots like that,” Blaine muttered. 

The bell rang and Kurt realized he had to hurry off to class. He turned to thank Blaine but Blaine pulled at his arm.

“AP World History, right? I’m going there as well.”

Blaine slid his hand down Kurt’s forearm, circling his wrist before gripping his hand and holding it while they made their way through the throngs of students who were scurrying off to class. Kurt, his heart pounding a little harder than usual, looked around to see if anyone was noticing him and Blaine holding hands but no one was watching.

\----- 

If Blaine was going to be truthful, albeit mostly just to himself, he had to admit that being back in school was terrifying. Not because he was afraid of taunting and bullying; he had carefully developed an amour of sorts to deal with that. That much he’d learned from his first stint in high school, but he’d forgotten how crowded it was and how it felt when a teacher asked you a question in front of the class (and what was it with teachers picking on the new kid?).

Still the terror had been pushed to the back of his mind. Because there was Kurt.

Blaine had fallen for people before and he’d thought h’d fallen hard back then, but those were just fleeting crushes compared to this. This was that rush that people wrote sonnets and disco songs about. And it was also terrifying on its own.

All Blaine knew when it came to sins of the flesh and matters of the heart was to have a good time: checking out a cute guy and if they checked him out back, well, good times would be had.

He was pretty certain that Kurt was interested in him. It was obvious from how his eyes would widen slightly before he dropped his gaze in order to give him a flirty look, but Blaine didn’t really know how to proceed because he knew Kurt’s interest wasn’t of the same kind as the interest guys usually showed him. This was ‘I want to hold hands and kiss and be boyfriends’ interest, not ‘let’s have a quickie in the bathroom’ interest. The thought warmed his belly but it was terrifying because he didn’t know what to do with it. He knew how to get another guy off but he had no idea how to be someone’s boyfriend.

The first step had to be asking Kurt out. Yet another thing that scared him. A small part of him wanted to go the 5th grade route and write a note but he had to have more courage than that.

He was on his way to the AP World History class that he shared with Kurt, hoping to catch him somewhere along the way, when he spotted him.

But Kurt wasn’t alone. Far from it. Two burly guys, clad in letterman jackets, were crowding him against some lockers and from the look on Kurt’s face, they weren’t exchanging pleasantries. 

Once upon a time, he’d wanted someone to come to his aid when faced with bullies. He could be that someone for Kurt. Pulling his leather jacket tighter to him, he strode over to where Kurt and the thugs were.

“Hey, Kurt,” he said, keeping eye contact with him as he came to a halt. Then he looked up at the bullies. They were both big and burly, at least compared to him and Kurt, but that didn’t scare Blaine much. One gave off this affronted vibe, like he enjoyed taking offence in general. Why couldn’t he take that to the comment section of news websites instead of being a bully? Then Blaine took a better look at the other one and he looked really familiar. A faint memory of men in cowboy hats line-dancing flashed through Blaine’s mind.

“Country Bear Night!” Blaine exclaimed, remembering seeing the guy in a cowboy hat and boots doing the Electric Slide.

The boy’s eyes flew open, wide with fear. 

Of course he wasn’t out, otherwise he wouldn’t be bullying Kurt. 

Blaine looked at him, hoping the boy would understand what he was conveying.

“Let’s go, Azimo.”

The other boy looked confused but followed his friend as they walked away.

Kurt looked almost dumbstruck, his eyes following the boys as they rounded a corner.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Well, I could ask the same,” Blaine said and shrugged. “Let’s talk about this later. Let’s get to History and maybe we’ll talk about this… well, we could go for a coffee or something after school.”

Kurt nodded his head eagerly and Blaine couldn’t help but smile. He’d just asked him out on a date without really giving it a thought. No 5th grade-style notes needed.

\----- 

If Kurt was going to be perfectly honest, which he usually was, he couldn’t say that he was all that surprised by Blaine’s coffee order. Medium drip was all about getting the caffeine needed without the jolt of espresso and the frou-frou of the more milk-based orders like his non-fat mocha.

There was something refreshingly no nonsense about Blaine, or maybe Kurt was just imagining it because he wanted this crush to be straightforward and uncomplicated. Of course it would be ironic if Blaine would turn out to be straight. Maybe he just needed to get things sorted.

“This is a date, right?” Kurt asked, lifting his eyebrows a little.

“If you want this to be a date, then yeah,” Blaine said, smiling as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Uhm, okay, so you’re gay then, or you know, at least into dating me?”

“Very gay and into dating you, yes.”

Kurt hadn’t known it was possible to blush hard while sighing in relief but somehow he managed to do that.

“Uhm, okay, good.”

“But we came here with a purpose, right? Other than you know, first date business,” Blaine said.

A groan almost escaped Kurt’s mouth. The last thing he wanted to talk about was Karofsky.

“Yeah, we did. Maybe we should get through that before, you know, first date business, whatever that is.”

“So why don’t you go first? For how long have they been bullying you and have you talked to someone in authority about it?”

Kurt’s laughter was hollow.

“Oh, I’ve been bullied for as long as I’ve been in school, thank you very much. Those guys have been bullying me pretty much since I started high school, though they became more forceful after I started Glee club. But Glee club meant Finn and Puck eased up on their treatment of me. They were beastly in middle school and during our freshman year.”

Blaine looked unhappy with that information but gestured for Kurt to continue.

“Last year I went to the principal and made several complaints and there was even talk about suspending the bullies but it never happened. But yeah, some days they locker-slam me multiple times. They’ve eased up on the slushie-ing, thankfully, and …”

“The what?”

“The slushie-ing. Where they throw a slushie at you. It’s like getting bitch-slapped by an iceberg and it can ruin your clothes. You’ll witness it, and to come to think of it, you might end up being slushie-ed. No one who has been in Glee club has escaped them so far.”

“Oh my god, this school is absolutely insane. Still hasn’t beat out my old school but still.” 

Kurt wanted to ask how Blaine’s old school could possibly be worse than McKinley but he was more interested in what Blaine had said to Karofsky and why he’d reacted like he had.

“So you and Dave Karofsky? You know him?”

“Ah, yeah, burly dude with the trimmed eyebrows?”

Kurt nodded.

“So, I might have a fake ID which I’ve used a bit and yeah, like last June or so, just after the summer break started, I suppose, I was at Scandals, you know Scandals?”

Though he’d never been there himself, Kurt knew it was a seedy bar on the outskirts of Lima, catering to the small gay population from Lima and the surrounding area.

“So, I don’t go there a lot, I prefer going to the bars and the clubs in Columbus because the men who frequent Scandals normally aren’t my type. But yeah, I came there and it was Country Bear Night and I stayed just for laughs. I don’t go for bears or anything but yeah, they were line-dancing and it was kind of cute. And burly eyebrows was there, happy as pie, doing the electric slide.”

Kurt felt his jaw drop and he felt like someone had thrown a ball hard at him, knocking the wind out of him.

“Karofsky is gay? Oh my god.”

“Well, I can’t say Scandals is full of heterosexual men, at least not guys who dress up in their best cowboy gear for a bit of line dancing.”

“Wow. I just… I think my world just got turned upside down.”

Blaine tilted his head a little, looking at him almost sideways.

“So, I’m to understand that he’s one of your main bullies?”

“Yeah, him and Azimio, the guy who was with him today. I mean, Azimio never does anything when you meet him alone except call you names but I hardly ever meet Karofsky in the hallways without him managing to push me against a locker. It’s just… so exhausting.” Kurt sighed, thinking of last year when he’d gone to the principal with his dad but nothing could be done without proof. His dad had mentioned the option of changing schools but Kurt couldn’t imagine another high school in this area would be any better. Plus, he had some kind of a support system in his friends, as far as that helped. 

“Well, now you have information about him, not that I want to encourage you to blackmail him.”

The mere notion horrified Kurt. As much as Karofsky had gone out of his way to target him, blackmail or forced outing wasn’t something he would ever contemplating doing to another person, no matter how horrible and hateful they might be.

“Even though he’s a neanderthal who has gone out of his way to make my life miserable, I don’t want to out him or anything like that.”

“Hmm, how about we let him know that we know and offer to help him to come out or whatever. Not making it sound like a blackmail or anything. Just you know.... but it’s up to you of course. Somehow this guy has to do something with his self-hatred other than to take it out on you.”

That didn’t sound like a good idea to Kurt but it was still a better idea than threatening Karofsky.

“I’ll think about it, but uhm… can we please talk about something else? Like, how come you have that beautiful bike of yours?”

Blaine smiled and told Kurt all about how he’d come to own his Lucy, named after the Narnia character of the same name, which endeared Blaine even more to Kurt.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger Warning for the entire fic:** multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
> 
> This work isn't completed.

Sam had never had a friend like Blaine before. Someone who was his friend, not because they play sports together, but because they clicked and had each other’s trust pretty much from the get-go.

So he was happy that Blaine had hit it off with Kurt and that Kurt was looking a little less lonely because of it. But Blaine wasn’t fitting in so much with the rest of his friends, the guys in particular. 

At every meeting of the Glee club, Finn had talked about how people had to earn their place in Glee club and prove their merit. Sometimes it was like he was the president, giving a speech. Some kids would roll their eyes but Puck and Artie had been rather enthusiastic supporters of what Finn was saying. Blaine was never directly mentioned but it was heavily implied that Finn felt Blaine didn’t belong.

Sam was already feeling a little bit blue as he entered the choir room. He’d been watching Mercedes and Shane throughout the lunch break. He had liked other girls before, hell, last year he’d been ready to promise Quinn everything, but now all he could see was Mercedes.What he felt for her was so much stronger than anything he’d felt for Quinn, or for any other girl, for that matter. 

Blaine was already there with Kurt and they were sitting together, their body language suggesting that all they cared about was each other. The other kids trickled in and Sam looked at Mercedes as she took a seat next to Tina. 

“Hey, how is everyone?” Mr. Schue walked into the class, looking a little more excited than usually. 

Most people mumbled something as Mr. Schue pulled out a paper from the stack he was carrying.

“So, I’ve secured us the rights for the musical we’re going to put on this year. Finn, drumroll, please.”

Finn jumped towards the drum set and produced a drumroll.

“This year we’ll be doing West Side Story!”

A very loud shriek could be heard coming from Rachel and some of the other kids seemed excited. Sam was pretty excited as well, this was actually a musical he’d heard about and he’d seen the movie made after it, unlike A Chorus Line and Wicked, some of the musical titles that were often thrown about in the choir room.

“While I’m hoping that Coach Beiste and Artie might help out with directing, I thought I should make casting suggestions, especially since Finn has already told me he doesn’t want to take the lead this year, which I think is wise, considering all the dancing. So I was thinking that we would double cast Tony and Maria.”

“Mr. Schue,” Rachel started, sounding very offended.

“Now, now, Rachel, of course I’m suggesting you as Maria but since I’m thinking of Sam and Mike as Tony, it would be great to change it up with Maria as well, and for Mercedes to share the role with you.”

A murmur went through the class but Sam could feel butterflies in his stomach at the thought of doing a romantic role opposite Mercedes.

“Kurt, I’m thinking of you as Riff. Kind of amusing since you were Riff Raff in Rocky Horror last year. Blaine as Bernardo, Santana as Anita and Puck as Officer Krupke, I think you’d know more about police work than any of us.”

“Hold up,” Finn said. “Isn’t Bernardo like, a rather big role? I mean, why are you suggesting the newbie here gets such a big role but someone like Puck gets a role with like, no singing?”

Sam blinked. Puck had a nice voice and all but Blaine’s was better and probably more suited for a musical. Looks-wise they were equally suited to play the Puerto-Rican Bernardo, though neither of them was of Latin descent.

As much as Mr. Schue normally listened to what Finn had to say, he didn’t seem to have much patience for him at the moment. 

“Thank you, Finn. We discuss this later.”

\----- 

One of the many things that Blaine had learned in therapy was to try to confront things that frustrated and angered him early on, before he let them fester. This was something he did believe in, because he never wanted to experience the anger he’d felt after being attacked for being gay at his old high school. What he felt then was something he never wanted to experience again; feeling so defenseless and useless, really , knowing that his attackers weren’t going to get punished and were probably feeling victorious, having managed to drive him away from the school. He wasn’t about to get pushed away from another thing he wanted again.

As the other kids were standing to leave the Glee club meeting that was now over, Blaine asked Finn to stay. Kurt lingered as well and Blaine just knew that he had to feel a little torn.

“What is your problem with me?” Blaine asked Finn as Rachel marched Mercedes out of the classroom, talking about how sharing a role was common-place on Broadway and how they would have to talk this over so they’d have a similar vision.

Finn was quick to pull himself up to his full height, and there had been a time when Blaine would have felt intimidated by that, but now he merely crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Finn’s answer.

“I… you just started out in Glee club. This is the third year for some of us and it’s unfair that somehow you come waltzing in and just get to be the star.”

“Really, Finn?” Kurt injected. “You are worried about Blaine stealing the limelight? So who is the only one who has gotten solos at competitions? Who are the only two people who have sung duets at competitions?”

Finn frowned.

“Mr. Schue decided on the solos Rachel had sung and our duets as well and…”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it Mr. Schue’s suggestion that I’d get the role?” Blaine said, quirking an eyebrow.

That fact was obviously dawning on Finn and a sheepish look appeared on his face.

“Yeah, it’s just… we’ve had bad experiences with the newcomers. Kurt, you know, like Jesse.”

“And what about Sam then?” 

“I… that’s… he plays football?” Finn said, not looking Blaine and Kurt in the eye, instead staring intently at his Chucks.

“Seriously, Finn?” Kurt exclaimed and Blaine couldn’t help but snort.

“So a varsity jacket makes a person trustworthy? Is that the reason your stepbrother is constantly terrorized by the other jocks and you just stand by and do nothing?” 

“That’s…” Finn looked panicked. “We do watch out for him… I just… we have to play with those guys on the team and Kurt knows…”

Blaine felt Kurt’s hand on his upper arm, like Kurt didn’t want him to keep ripping Finn a new one. 

“It’s okay, we’ve talked about this, and yeah, it’s not nearly as bad as it was last year and you guys helped so much. It’s just, Blaine witnessed the bullying a bit, so yeah…”

“Shit, who? Do you want me to talk to them? Have you told Burt?”

Kurt sighed, his hand still on Blaine’s upper arm.

“We don’t have any more proof than we did last year, Finn. I’ll just have to grin and bear it for a few months more and then I’ll hopefully never see those guys again. But seriously, though, you owe Blaine a better explanation.”

“He’s so freaking talented.” It came out as a whisper but Blaine caught what Finn was saying.

“Care to repeat that?” Kurt asked.

“He’s so talented, okay,“ Finn said. “It feels like when Jesse joined. Why should I even try to open my mouth to sing near him?”

“‘Cause it’s a show choir, silly,” Kurt said, the affection for his brother obvious in his voice. “We need more than one voice, despite what Rachel might sometimes think.”

\----- 

Kurt wasn’t entirely sure whether Finn was over his thing with Blaine, but at least he now knew that he’d been unfair and frankly rude to him.

After Finn left, Kurt and Blaine lingered around for a while, since Kurt thought it would be prudent to let Finn have time to think a little, by himself at home, before Kurt would be home. Kurt wasn’t really angry with his step-brother but it did bother him that he wasn’t welcoming to Blaine. While Blaine had a tattoo, wore a leather jacket, and rode a motorcycle, Glee club shouldn’t be a place where he got judged for that.

They were just wandering the hallways, Kurt telling Blaine about classrooms he hadn’t been to and reminiscing about the club’s first performance at the school assembly.

“Seriously? You sang Push It?”

Kurt nodded.

“Yeah, that wasn’t the half of it. Rachel’s inspiration for the choreography must’ve come from a porno or something, at least judging from the way she was humping Finn. But I can’t blame her entirely; I got totally into it, and I was crawling on stage like I was Mercedes’ pet and doing some crazy hip thrusting and yeah, slapping Finn’s butt.”

“Really? I would’ve loved to have seen that,” Blaine said, grinning, pulling on the lapel of the jacket Kurt was wearing.

“Well, if you love secondhand embarrassment, then you would have been all over it.”

Blaine laughed and Kurt’s stomach felt pleasantly warm; he was realizing that this was how it felt to like someone who could possibly like you back.

Kurt was so engrossed in Blaine’s reactions to his little tales, he didn’t realize they were no longer alone in the hallway.

“What the hell are you two doing here?”

Karofsky was standing there, looking irritated that he and Blaine dared to exist. Kurt looked at Blaine who quirked his eyebrow, giving him a ‘can you believe this guy?’ look.

“Being students here,” was all Kurt offered.

“Well, you should limit your fairy-dust spreading to actual school hours, then, instead of trying to ruin it for those of us who participate in proper after-school activities, not Homo Explosion,” Karofsky said, his mouth stretched and his nostrils flared in a sneer.

“Whoa, I can’t believe you, dude,” Blaine said in a raised voice, taking a step forward. “I’ve seen you at Scandals, fucking participating in a line dance with a bunch of other bears.”

Karofsky’s face turned a shade of red that Kurt wanted to call puce, or even burgundy since it was way past being red and was instead clearly heading into the territory of being dark purple. His knuckles, on the other hand, were white and Karofsky seemed likely to want to introduce Blaine’s handsome face to them.

“You….” Karofsky stuttered.

“I’m not going to out you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I mean, you obviously have a lot of anger stored up and it can be so hard to come out but I mean, if you want, I’m willing to support you, though I can’t speak for Kurt…” Blaine was rambling but it seemed to agitate Karofsky even more.

“Just keep your mouth shut,” he growled, pushing Blaine to walk past him. Kurt couldn’t stand by anymore.

“Jeez, you’ve got to stop,” he said as he stepped in front of Karofsky, his heart beating hard.

“Get away from me.”

“I’m not even going to touch you, Dave. I’m just going to ask you to please stop. Stop shoving me and calling me names. Taking your self-hatred out on me isn’t going to help. Perhaps it helps you keeping up appearances in high school but we only have a few months left and what the fuck are you going to do when you get to college? Keep on hating yourself or what?” He didn’t even know where the words were coming from or why he hadn’t spoken up like this before, but even though Karofsky was starting to resemble a cartoon bomb about to go off, Kurt felt oddly free.

“I… I can’t do this.” Karofsky shoved past him, sprinting down the hallway to the nearest exit.

“I don’t think he’s coming out anytime soon,” Blaine said, putting his arm around Kurt’s shoulders, patting them softly and sliding his hand down the upper arm.

“Yeah, I just hope I didn’t make things worse.”

“Well, let’s not allow that to happen.” Blaine gave him a look that Kurt couldn’t misconstrue. It was strangely thrilling to have someone willing to get into a fight for you.

Walking out of the school, Blaine followed Kurt to his car.

“I was wondering whether we should go on another date?” Blaine looked up through his eyelashes like he was trying to be bashful.

“I’d like that very much,” Kurt said. They hadn’t gone on another date since going to the Lima Bean the other day but they had pretty much stayed glued to each other’s side at school and even talked on the phone once or twice. 

“This weekend? You free on Saturday night?”

Kurt nodded, leaning against his car and trying not to stare at Blaine’s face; at his pretty eyes and lovely mouth that Kurt wanted so much to kiss.

“We’ll talk tomorrow, alright?” Blaine said as he started to turn away and towards his bike.

“No, wait.” Kurt threw his arm out to grab Blaine’s hand. Then he looked around quickly to see if there was anyone else in the parking lot. Pulling a bit harder, he made Blaine almost fall into him. There was a look of confusion in Blaine’s eyes, along with something warm and Kurt acted on his impulse. Tilting his head a little, he caught Blaine’s mouth with his lips, giving him what he hoped to be a decent kiss. At least it felt pretty decent to Kurt, Blaine’s lips feeling so right. And Blaine got into the kiss, giving back as good as he got, his hand coming up to grasp at Kurt’s shoulder.

After a moment, they broke apart, Kurt’s lips feeling pleasantly tingly.

“Damn, _I_ was waiting for the right moment and you just couldn’t wait?” Blaine said, laughter obviously bubbling in his voice.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” was all Kurt could say before pulling him into another kiss.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger Warning for the entire fic:** multiple mentions of past childhood sexual abuse, mentions of sex work (Sam's stripping)
> 
> This work isn't completed.

At one of the meetings with his therapist, Blaine had voiced a theory of sorts about himself; that his personality was developing a bit like computer software. There was little Blaine, Blaine 1.0 if you will. That Blaine was a polite and a people-pleasing child and also a very trusting child. That was perhaps the reason he changed so much after what happened with Mr. Harris. Pre-teen Blaine cared more about honesty, with himself and others, than necessarily getting people to like him.

This bled into his early teens, aided by the therapy he had attended. It was this honesty that had him coming out at the tender age of fourteen. 

But this version of Blaine was vulnerable as well. It got him gaybashed at a school dance, keeping him from school for the rest of that school year and ultimately being home-schooled for over a year. That Blaine was definitely the beta version of Blaine 3.0. He wasn’t totally sure that the beta testing was fully done yet.

After the attack his parents had wanted to wrap him up and never let him out. He was still mostly bed-ridden when their behavior had started giving him cabin-fever, but it had been easier said than done for him to regain the freedom that he had enjoyed before the attack; his parents wanted to keep him out of school and got him a home tutor. They didn’t want him to be in any contact with the few friends he’d had before. 

His salvation came in the form of a blonde college student named Wendy. Wendy was hired as his tutor. What had escaped Blaine’s parents was that Wendy was a party girl as well as being a student with a high GPA. She felt sorry for this cute boy who had been cut off from hanging out with his peers. Her intentions had been pretty pure at first; inviting Blaine to come with her and spend a weekend in Columbus so he could see people closer to him in age and not just his parents.

There would be many more invitations for Blaine where he followed Wendy and her friends around the party scene of Columbus. Blaine would have his first proper crush on another boy, a friend of Wendy’s named Jeremiah, who thought Blaine was too young. It turned out, though, that plenty of college-aged guys didn’t think Blaine was too young.

So he had his fun, going to gay bars with his fake ID’s. Sometimes he would get drunk, but he also liked going there sober. There were a few places he frequented and he’d gotten to know the men there, some in a carnal way but most merely in a friendly way. 

He knew it was more than likely that Kurt had never been to a bar and maybe he wouldn’t be into it, but still, a gay man growing up in Lima had to go to Scandals, the local gay bar, at least once in his life. If Kurt hated it, that was okay. Wendy was on standby to pick them up. 

It was hard to say whether Wendy was a fairy godmother or simply just an enabler. Blaine’s therapist had questioned her before but he also understood how isolated Blaine had been while he’d been homeschooled. 

Walking up to the house Kurt lived in, he noticed it wasn’t as large as the one he lived in but it seemed ample enough to house a couple with two teenagers. 

Blaine was prepared to meet Kurt’s dad as he rang the doorbell, but he’d hardly lifted his finger from the button when the door was opened wide and out stepped Kurt. 

“Sorry, I was waiting by the door, a little too excited,” Kurt said as he shut the door behind him. “And yeah, I don’t think we’re at the point yet where you should meet my dad. I mean, he’s great and all, and if we weren’t going on a date I probably wouldn’t have any qualms about you meeting him but yeah… while I’ve never brought home a guy before, I just know he’ll get a little overprotective. So yeah, let’s go out. Where’s your bike?”

Kurt had obviously thought they were going on the bike as he was dressed in this leather suit, of sorts, and looking stupidly hot with his hair swept up. They were certainly going to notice him in Scandals.

“Yeah, I didn’t bring the bike, I actually have a ride to where we’re going.”

Wanting to keep a certain element of mystery and surprise, he handed a small card to Kurt.

“What’s that?” Kurt said, examining the card. “Oh my god, that’s a fake ID, Blaine,” he added, in a hushed voice.

“Yeah, you’re gonna need it where we’re going.”

Thankfully, Kurt mostly looked excited and not nervous. Blaine had gotten the impression that Kurt’s ideas of rebellion were pretty tame. 

When they got to the car, Wendy introduced herself to Kurt who looked curiously at her.

“Oh,” he said when he was able to fit her in amongst the people Blaine had talked about. “You’re Blaine’s old tutor.”

“I prefer a friend,” Wendy said smiling.

“And enabler,” Blaine added. “Or I should say, liberator.” 

Kurt looked a bit confused so Blaine launched into the tale of poor, lonely, homeschooled Blaine and the party girl who saved him.

\----- 

Kurt was pleasantly tipsy. Knowing that he was a lightweight when it came to drinking, he’d only had a couple of cocktails. Blaine, on the other hand, was a little more sloshed. The guys there seemed to know him and some of them wanted to buy him drinks. Not that any of them were hitting on Blaine. Instead they all looked appreciatively at Kurt, whose inebriated state had him preening just a little bit.

Scandals was just what you could expect from a gay bar in a small town in the Mid-West. What little decor there was underlined stereotypical masculinity with just a hint of 80s nostalgia. With the exception of a couple of Britney and Gaga songs, the music they played was all older than Kurt himself, but he liked that. Still loads of tracks he could dance to, and dance he did. The leather suit made him feel hot and sweaty but feeling Blaine moving against him, touching him, Kurt felt sexy, which was something he hadn’t really felt before. 

“Don’t you two look cute?” One of the patrons came up to them, looking at them with what looked like appreciation to Kurt’s eyes. The guy was probably somewhere in his late thirties, maybe even in his early forties. Kurt just laughed at his comment, swaying a bit in Blaine’s arms.

That might have been the wrong thing to do, as the guy took it as an invitation to move behind Kurt, putting his hands on Kurt’s hips and pressing against him. That sexy feeling completely vanished and instead Kurt felt sick, but before he could react Blaine had realized what was going on. He pulled Kurt away from the guy and stepped in front of him.

“Hands off him,” Blaine growled. The possessiveness amused Kurt more than anything but the guy, on the other hand, wasn’t happy that he’d been told not to touch the merchandise. 

“I would’ve thought you’d share, Anderson, judging from how you’ve thrown yourself around,” the guy said in a snide voice.

“Excuse me.” Blaine sounded livid. “What I do and don’t do doesn’t have anything to do with whether Kurt here is comfortable with some sleezebag groping his ass.”

“Geez, you’re the last person I would’ve thought would turn into a prude,” the guy said as he stalked away.

Kurt stood there, feeling almost rooted to the floor.

“You okay?” Blaine asked, moving away from the middle of the dance floor. It took Kurt few moments to get his limbs moving in order to follow him. He made a noncommittal sound as if to indicate how okay he was.

“I’m sorry,” Blaine said, sitting down on a nearby chair. Kurt looked at him, not understanding what Blaine was apologizing for.

“I mean, I’m not a gatekeeper or anything like that to your body. This wasn’t my call to make.”

“Uhm, oh, yeah… I see,” Kurt said, finally comprehending what Blaine was going on about. “I didn’t mind?”

“Just… okay, cool. I’m glad you didn’t mind… geez, I’m not sober enough for this conversation. Wanna get back on the dance floor?”

With the music beckoning them, an old Depeche Mode song starting up with an electric keyboard riff playing, Kurt, with a smile, put out his hand for Blaine to take.

+

It was mid morning when Kurt woke up, his mouth feeling dry. He wasn’t alone in bed but that wasn’t a surprise to him. When Wendy had come to pick them up at Scandals, she’d said something about her roommate to Blaine who’d sighed in irritation. Apparently he’d planned to crash at Wendy’s place but that wasn’t an option anymore. He hadn’t seemed keen on going to his house, saying something about his parents. Without giving it too much thought, Kurt had suggested that Blaine could crash at his place. Blaine’s face had lit up and then he’d solemnly promised that there wouldn’t be any funny business. Kurt had laughed at that. They weren’t there quite yet and they were both well aware of that, no matter whether they were sober or drunk.

There were faint sounds coming from downstairs, indicating that some of the other inhabitants of the house were already up. Kurt’s money was on his father and Carole as Finn always used every opportunity possible to sleep in.

Pulling himself up in the bed, he looked at the other occupant who was still dead to the world, his curly mop sticking out from under the sheet he had pulled over himself. Kurt got up, tiptoeing to his en suite bathroom to pee, brush his teeth and have a sip of water. Then he planned to freshen up at his vanity but as he stood in the bathroom with the toothbrush, he heard the door to his bedroom being opened and his father’s voice sounded out:

“Hey buddy, wake up. You were promising me that we would cook breakfast together and… you’re not Kurt.”

With his mouth still full of foaming toothpaste, Kurt came running back into his bedroom and saw his father standing over his bed, staring at a very disorientated-looking Blaine.

Then his father noticed him.

“Care to explain, Kurt?”

Making a “please wait” gesture with his hand, Kurt ducked back into the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste and rinse his mouth.

His father was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest and Blaine was sitting up in the bed, looking like he wanted to sink into the pillows and disappear. 

“Yeah, uhm, Dad, this is Blaine, my… gosh, we’ve… okay, we’re dating but… yeah, Blaine, this is my dad, Burt Hummel.” Kurt looked between them but both his father and Blaine had deemed the situation awkward enough without them shaking hands at this point.

“So, Kurt, I’m gonna go downstairs now and I’d appreciate it if we could have a word.” His father didn’t even look at him when he left the room and a sense of dread settled in the pit of Kurt’s stomach.

“Shit, I’m… we didn’t think this one through, Kurt,” Blaine said, looking forlorn. 

“I swear I didn’t expect him to come into my bedroom so early. I had planned on telling him that you slept on the floor or on top of the sheets or something but…” Kurt looked over to the bed; there was no way he could feed that story to his father now. All he could hope for was that his dad wouldn’t physically kick Blaine out.

Taking those steps down to the kitchen felt like the longest walk ever to Kurt. His feet felt heavy, like his socks had been filled with lead. 

Kurt’s cup had been set out on the kitchen table, filled with steaming hot coffee. His father was standing next to the table, waiting, a bit like an interrogator. Kurt could almost imagine a desk lamp on the table.

“Sit, Kurt.”

Kurt did exactly that. There was no disobeying Burt Hummel when he used that tone of voice. 

“So, care to explain why there is a strange boy sleeping in your bed?”

It was obvious that the alcohol had been clouding Kurt’s judgement when he came up with the idea of letting Blaine stay over. He should have known that this wouldn’t go unnoticed by his father and that he wouldn’t be pleased.

“Uhm, yeah, we were out last night and Blaine was drunk and our place was closer and I thought…”

“Wait,” his father interrupted. “You kids are drinking?”

Kurt wanted to roll his eyes at his father. While he himself hadn’t had many drinks since the Bambi incident back in sophomore year, until last night at least, Finn had been drinking numerous times and had come home more than little buzzed. At most, Carole had added to his chores but only after cooking him something greasy for his hangover.

“Yes.” Kurt didn’t want to lie but he also knew that any attempts to defend himself wouldn’t go down well with his father at the moment.

“You know that’s illegal? And dangerous? I mean, people can take advantage of you when you’re drunk, and I sure hope that you kids weren’t driving.”

Maybe getting his dad occupied with the fact they had been drinking would have him forgetting about Blaine.

“We weren’t driving, I would never do that. You know that, Dad.”

“Well, I’d thought that you wouldn’t sleep with some stranger underneath my roof without asking me but there is currently evidence to the contrary in your room. I don’t ask for much, Kurt. Showing me a little respect isn’t asking too much.” Burt had taken off his cap, running his hand over his head.

“Nothing happened!” 

“No need to be yelling. Carole and Finn are still sleeping.”

“I just… we might be dating and all, but Blaine really needed a place to crash and nothing was going to happen. It was late so I didn’t think…”

“That’s right, Kurt. You didn’t think. You didn’t think while getting drunk, you didn’t think while inviting a stranger into your bed… Kurt, you’re putting yourself in a harm’s way.”

Having his father be disappointed in him was so much worse than having him be angry. Even though Kurt wasn’t completely convinced he should apologize for having Blaine stay over, he knew he had to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Dad. If I want Blaine to stay over again, I’ll ask and I’ll accept your decision.”

Burt harrumphed and put his cap back on his head.

“You’re a good kid, Kurt. Carole and I worry enough about Finn when it comes to this stuff and I… let’s just say that I know you’ve got enough ambition to make it out of Lima, so I would hope you wouldn’t get yourself in trouble that might keep you here longer than necessary. Now go and get that Blaine kid and I’ll cook you something. Though I don’t think I’m gonna attempt those shirred eggs you were talking about.”

Kurt couldn’t help but chuckle as he got up to fetch Blaine.

\----- 

Mercedes didn’t share any of her Monday classes with Kurt, but she shared her first period American History with Finn and Rachel, and Finn had spent the entire class telling them all about what Kurt had been up to over the weekend. American History with Mrs. Hagberg was the best place in McKinley to gossip, because Mrs. Hagberg never took any notice of what her students were doing - most of them were sleeping, except for those who wanted to gossip, like Mercedes.

Everything Finn had told her sounded so unlike Kurt, she would have accused Finn of making it up if she thought he had the imagination. But Finn didn’t make up stories about people, least of all Kurt. He knew what Kurt would do to him if he found out.

She kept an eye out for Kurt the entire morning but by lunchtime she still hadn’t seen him. Instead she ran into Sam.

“Hey,” Sam said, waving her over in the caféteria. Mercedes had some vague plans for sitting with Shane but she couldn’t see him anywhere. 

“Hey yourself,” she said as she sat down at the table where Sam was sitting. 

“So, did you do anything fun over the weekend?” Sam asked. Mercedes had a hard time recalling what she’d done, her mind was so filled with Kurt’s alleged weekend activities. 

“No, but I heard Blaine got Kurt into a lot of trouble.”

There was a look of confusion on Sam’s face, his eyebrows knitted and he was frowning slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“He apparently took Kurt to a gay bar and got him drunk, then slept with him at Kurt’s house. I heard Kurt’s dad was furious.”

“Did Kurt tell you that?”

“No, but like the next best source, Finn.” Mercedes couldn’t help but feeling a bit anxious, sharing this with Sam. She could sense that Sam wasn’t sharing her concerns.

“Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t call him the next best source of anything, even though he might have witnessed the whole thing. Number one, Finn loves to jump to conclusions, and number two, he has like this rivalry thing going with Blaine, which I’m trying to stay out of ‘cause I’m friends with them both.” Sam still looked unhappy.

“But you know, Kurt would never…”

“Kurt is eighteen. So he shouldn’t be drinking and all that, but it’s not like Blaine is just trouble and into getting others into trouble, you know, despite the tough guy thing. Maybe Kurt has just been waiting to do something wild.”

Mercedes didn’t really know what to say more. What Sam was saying didn’t convince her much, but she changed the subject and tried her best not to think too much about how unfairly cute Sam was or about the flirty little looks he was giving her.

As she was cleaning off her tray before heading to her next class, Shane came up to her.

“Why were you having lunch with Sam?” There was tension in his voice. 

That shook Mercedes out of her reverie. The jealousy was apparent in every line of his face.

“I just had things to talk about with him and I didn’t see you anywhere.”

“I was sitting at the footballers’ table. If you’d just checked there, you’d have seen me, but no, you just had to sit with Sam.”

“Whoa, I don’t need to explain why I want to talk to my friends, Shane.” Mercedes slammed down her tray onto the pile of dirty ones and turned away from Shane. Thankfully, Shane didn’t follow her.

+

She wasn’t exactly proud of it but she ended up ambushing Kurt at his locker after classes had ended that day, before they were needed at West Side Story rehearsals.

“So what’s the deal about you and Blaine and your wild weekend?” he asked, without any preamble. 

“Wild weekend? Where did you hear that?” Kurt didn’t exactly look confused, more amused if anything.

“Just, Finn told me that Blaine got you drunk and… you slept together,” she added in a hushed voice.

Kurt started laughing.

“Well, I can’t deny the whole getting drunk thing but it wasn’t like Blaine was pouring the liquor down my throat. I could have said no but we had fake ID’s and a designated driver, so why not? I mean, I had to get over the whole April Rhodes fiasco eventually. And Blaine and I slept together, but I need put an emphasis on the sleeping part. Though I guess, since Santana has come up to me twice today to shout ‘Wanky!’ at me, my lily white reputation might be tarnished a little.”

“Oh,” was all Mercedes could come up with. She knew that while, up until recently, she and Kurt were similarly inexperienced when it came to the matters of the flesh, Kurt wasn’t planning on playing the same waiting game she was. Still, his lack of mortification felt strange to her. She couldn’t fathom how she’d feel if anyone at school thought she was sleeping with Shane, or with Sam for that matter.

“If Finn knows, does your dad know?” She asked, trying to get her mind away from the mere thought of sleeping with Sam.

“Oh.” Kurt was blushing. “He kind of found Blaine sleeping in my bed and he wasn’t all that pleased, but you know, he didn’t throw Blaine out or anything. Actually, he made us breakfast. But he wants me to put in a few hours at the garage instead. Not until after the musical, though.”

“So you and Blaine? Are you like… serious boyfriends?”

Kurt pursed his lips but it was like something had lit up in his eyes.

“Maybe, it’s still so early, but… I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” There was a tiny smile on Kurt’s face.

“Lucky you,” she said, without thinking.

“Oh, so you and Shane? It’s not serious? But he, like, dotes on you.”

“Uh, he does but… there’s someone else I like,” she said in a lowered voice.

“Sam?” Even though Kurt had said it like it was a question, Mercedes knew he was on to her. 

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I mean, I like Shane and he treats me so well… but I like Sam too and he’s always flirting and… I don’t know. I do need to do something because Shane is getting really jealous.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you to be leading a guy on. But what does your heart tell you? When you close your eyes and imagine, like, a really good kiss, like the best kiss ever, who do you imagine: Shane, Sam or Shemar Moore?”

“Kurt,” she whined; he was being seriously unfair. But she knew the answer and it wasn’t Shemar Moore.

“And?”

“I… it’s Sam,” she whispered.

“Well, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I don’t think you’re doing anyone any favors by keeping things as they are,” Kurt added, shrugging a little.

And she knew he was right.


End file.
